Western Massachusetts Fly Fishermen

It is now February 2022 and we are still dealing with Covid and it’s two variants Delta and Omicron. We will still have to adhere to the current Virus Practices. masks, distance, sanitizer etc. or whatever they may be at the time of the meeting or what ever is your comfort level. We will be conducting our February meeting at 7:00 pm right after the Fly-Tying Demo, at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.

We are rapidly approaching the time to renew our individual membership.

 As we all know due to Covid membership renewals were suspended until March of 2022. Please note if you would like to renew your membership by mail or would like to join the club you can email me at wmffclub@Gmail.com and I will email you back the form. If you prefer to renew in person fill out the form and bring to the next meeting.

There was a Bord of Directors Meeting held at the end of the regular meeting. A discussion was made by all directors and officers present that the March Fly Fishing Expo will be moved to April 18th, 2022.

It was also decided to monitor COVID activity to possibly postpone to a later date or to cancel.

Currently we do not have guest speaker for this meeting. In lieu of a guest speaker we will be presenting the documentary “Trout Grass”. This is the story of Bamboo and its journey from China and the process of turning it into a fly rod.

Hope to see many of you at this coming meeting.

Fly Tying Demo:

 Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following fly’s at our meeting on Monday night before the scheduled meeting. 

(6:30) Thanks Dan.

Welcome to 2022!

We will conduct our January meeting at 7:00 pm right after the Fly-Tying Demo, at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.  We will adhere to current Virus Practices. Masks, distance, sanitizer etc.

January’s guest speaker will be Don Stewart from WMFF and TU. His presentation will be on his fly-fishing experiences fishing Alaska. Please join me in welcoming and thanking Don for taking the time to share his experiences.

We are rapidly approaching the time to renew our individual membership. As we all know due to Covid membership renewals were suspended until March of 2022. For those of you who wish to renew early your new expiration date will be March 2023.

Hope to see many of you at this coming meeting.

Just a reminder fly tying class started Thursday January 13th. You still can come and join the class that will run for 8 consecutive Thursdays. Classes will start at 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm and be held at the Elk’s Lodge in Ludlow, MA.

Fly Tying Demo:

 Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following fly’s at our meeting on Monday night before the scheduled meeting. 

(6:30) Thanks Dan.

FREE Fly-Tying Classes starting January 13th 2022

We will conduct our December meeting at 7:00 pm right after the Fly-Tying Demo, at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.  We will adhere to current Virus Practices. Masks, distance, sanitizer etc.December’s guest speaker will be Tom Panaccione   

Tom will be sharing an eclectic mix of fly-fishing stories and personal experiences from his trips to some great fly-fishing destination’s such as Argentina, Montana and Belize. The presentation will include trip info, fishing techniques and the flies used. Questions during the presentation will be welcome.  Please join me in welcoming and thanking Tom for taking the time to share his experiences.

Hope to see many of you at this coming meeting. 

Fly Tying Demo:

Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following fly’s at our meeting on Monday night before the scheduled meeting. (6:30) Thanks Dan.

We will conduct our September meeting at 7:00 pm right after the Fly-Tying Demo, at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.  We will adhere to current Virus Practices. Masks, distance, sanitizer etc. It’s been a while since we had our last meeting! (May Cookout)  We hope that you are all in good health and trying to live your lives as normal as possible given our extenuating circumstances.  One thing that I look forward to is getting back to our meetings and enjoy the interaction, comraderies, and sharing fish stories that we can all relate to.

Meeting Minutes:

Our last meeting was the annual cookout.  We all thank Dan Trela and his wife, plus Roy Britton for pulling off a successful event.  It was a good time to see all the folks and enjoy the good food and friendships at the event. If you want information on the status of our funds, please see our treasurer (Don Vacon) for the info available at the meeting.

Welcome our newest member, Thomas (Tom) Rzasa who joined our group at the cookout.

Working on getting WMFF Club letterhead if you need some.  Can send it by file via email or I will carry some in my bag.

Fly Tying Demo:

Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following flys at our meeting on Monday night beginning before (6:30) the scheduled meeting.  Thanks Dan.

Guest Speaker:  None so far but we are open to your sharing of a topic or experience!

See Harold to set the date.

Field Notes from Our Local Fly Fishers: Be careful when you venture out onto the water.  Levels are high with all the rain we’ve been getting

Hope to see you at the Annual Cookout in the Elks Pavilion!  The meeting will be held outdoors. Dan Trela will be grilling some mighty fine burgers and hot dogs for us.  There will be some deserts, chips and other fix ins for us to enjoy.  Our meeting will be held on Monday, May17, 2021 at 7:00 PM, right after the cookout that starts at 5:30 at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow, we hope you can make it there.

No Fly tying demonstrations will take place because Dan is tied up with other duties.

April Meeting: Minutes:

• Our first indoor meeting since the Covid attack!  We had 22 members and one guest show up.  (guest is now a new member! Thank Harold!)
• Dan Trela demonstrated his superb fly-tying abilities on various Caddis flies that are productive on the Swift.  The “Wicked Pissa” is really hot on the Swift River!
• Our Raffle was a tremendous hit!  Many multiple winners of some nice prizes!  Wish you had been there to share the winnings! been there…

TREASURERS REPORT:  We are holding our own until we renegotiate our hall rental contract this month! 

Speaker:

There will be no scheduled speaker for this meeting.  If you are interested in giving us a demonstration or short talk at a future meeting, please give Harold Norman a call to schedule your talk.  We all appreciate learning more about Fly Fishing and other related interests.

GREAT NEWS! WE`RE GETTING TOGETHER AGAIN!

First, we hope that you all survived this immense ordeal in good health and spirit.  Many of us are still adjusting to the new environment, whereby we have all gone “viral” with all the changes in our lives.  Restrictions have been reduced to allow groups to gather with limits of 40% of the facility’s capacity.  Our max club meeting attendance has stayed at 30 members/guests.  The Elks Club hall accommodates several hundred people.  Therefore, we fall way under the 40% limit.  ALL COVID MEASURES ARE STILL IN AFFECT DURING OUR GATHERING!  Masks, attendance register, hand sanitizer, and social distancing.

We will conduct our club meeting at 7:00 pm beginning with the Fly-Tying Demo portion of the meeting. Located at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.  We miss gathering as a group of people who love this sport/hobby/passion and love sharing experiences, knowledge’ and support of our fishing environment for all to enjoy.  See you at the meeting.

Meeting Minutes:

Our last meeting was during the Fall when we got together in the Pavilion.

Treasurer’s report will be available at the meeting.  See Don Vacon.

Fly Tying Demo: 

Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following fly’s at our meeting on Monday night beginning before the scheduled meeting.  Thank you, Dan for tying some terrific flies and describing their unique features and “fishability”!

TIPS: When tying the CDC and deer hair caddis on a size 14-16 hook select a CDC feather about 1 1/4 inch long. Tie it in over the hook barb and twist the feather into a rope. Wrap the CDC to form the body at about the 3/4 point wrap the feather as a hackle.  Then tie in the deer hair or elk. Short and fine deer hair is distributed by Wapsi and is available at fly shops.

Guest Speaker: None scheduled.  If you know of someone, please contact Harold Norman.

Field Notes From Our Local Fly Fishers: Be careful if you venture out on the ice, some spots are not as safe as they look!  The Swift is seeing some good activity!

With the pandemic in full swing here in January of 2021 and our meetings canceled, I wanted to find ways to keep us together virtually. In the video link below Dan is going to show us how to tie five fly’s. Four of the fly’s are variations on the Pheasant tail nymphs and the last one is a dry fly.

I am fairly new to fly fishing/fly tying and found it interesting that by changing in most cases one material in the fly pattern that you now have a different fly that you are making. The opposite of that is you already are using four items on your bench and by changing out one you can practice tying a different fly!

Here are the fly fly patterns to accompany the video.

Pheasant tail nymph

Hook size: Standard nymph hook size 16 NW1 16 hook n

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread black

Body: Natural pheasant tail

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax/legs: Peacock herl

Hendrickson nymph

Hook size: 12-14-16 hook

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread

Tail: Pheasant tail dyed brown.

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax: Mahoney super find dubbing

baetis nymph

Hook size: 18 standard

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread

Tail: Pheasant tail dyed brown or olive

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax: Gray olive super fine dubbing

Pheasant tail soft hackle

Hook size: 14

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread

Body: Natural pheasant tail

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax: Hairs ear dubbing (Note: European rabbit has more brown than gray)

Hackle: Hungarian Partridge feather

Dry Fly – Charlie Craven Mole fly variation

Hook: Scud emerger – Dieche 1130

Thread: 8/0  Uni-Thread

Wing: CDC (Cul de Canard)

Body: Natural pheasant tail??

Ribbing: extra fine copper wire

I want to thank Dan Trela for tying the fly’s and Tom Panaccione for his video work!

Here is the link to the video:

Pheasant Tail Nymph Variations by Dan Trela

In watching this video here are some other links I found of interest:

Deciphering thread size

How to select CDC feathers

Aquatic insect Encyclopedia